costa and that other guy are ex marines or something? hard to loose the jargon even if you are no long active

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Haley is former USMC, Blackwater, and I think some other PMC (in the famous Blackwater Iraq rooftop shooter video, that's him; goes by "simplydynamic" on several forums). I can understand him using the term. I know nothing about Costa's background though.

1) Were you satisfied with the performance of the 77gr round during the CPA engagement and during your experiences there in general? Yes very much so, the rd has great ballistics for most distances, the only other preference I have is if I'm in CQB then I like to have a lighter round so we don’t over penetrate too much. If I’m in a CQB role I will carry mostly lighter ammo like 45gr and then have two mags in my vest of 77gr for vehicles and such.

2) How successful were the short barreled rifles that your colleagues were using during that engagement? Well they were doing ok when the shit was really bad when the insurgents were up near the walls, (100-300meters) but out past that they were pretty much ineffective. But remember that they had to carry them because they were on a PSD mission (Protective security detail) where the shorter the barrel the easier it is to operate.

3) Would a 6.8 SPC rifle have been more appropriate? Of course it would have been! That is a great platform; I tested it personally for DET 1 when I was out in Camp Pendleton CA. The ballistics would have helped that day! Plus I wouldn’t have had to shoot people 4-7 times like some of my targets.

4) Did you have some sort of fire support (i.e., M203, etc...)? If so, were you satisfied with its effectiveness? I understand that your contingent was armed with an AT-4 anti-armor weapon, was it ever deployed during the CPA engagement or during your time there in general? Excluding the shot at the moon We did have 203’s and At-4’s. But believe it or not it was not really deterring the insurgents just would detour them a bit. The 203 is a great weapon system but was impractical for the ranges of most of our targets…(being very inaccurate) No AT-4’s were shot that I remember, and for that situation they two were in the same operation as the 203’s for that range.

5) Were you able to successfully engage mounted targets (such as the vehicles during the CPA engagement)? They was a lot of vehicle movement especially after I got there with the Glass, before I got there, there was no long range capability (just the 10.5’s and a few SAWs, but they started running ammo and Buses like in the video to get insurgents closer to us or to run ammo, weapons, and dead bodies back and forth. So yes there was quite a bit of vehicle engagements. (+ For the 77gr)

6) At the CPA engagement, how did the insurgents travel? Did they move in large clusters? All types, they would move in Vehicles, Buses, by them selves and in groups of 100 some times,

7) Did they employ any fire and maneuver tactics or would they just approach the compound on a whim? They were just coming strait on at first and as they got suppressed they would get smart and stay out of range, then I hopped on the SPR and took that advantage away from them. So at that time they were doing massive flanking movements (as you can kind of see it in the video they are running out at around 650-700m to the left or right). Those people aren’t that smart to conduct small/large unit tactics!

8) How accurate was their return fire? I understand that a Marine was wounded, how is he doing? Has he recovered completely? Very Poor…as a whole but there was a sniper in the hospital (which you can see from the video tall building as the little birds were circling the CPA) who had a Dragnov and he was quite accurate and keep our heads down for a while…and hit the two Marines. But as far as the rest of them they could hit anything…you could sit there and watch them run out and spay and pray. We did have mortar fire on the CPA which one of the rounds hit right behind us (about 15ft) but was a dud….should have seen the looks on our faces after that one!

9) In general, how close were the insurgents to the main building? Was there ever a time when a target was able to approach the main building without attracting attention and was too close for comfort? No we had a good 100m stand off from that roof so we could see most everything

10) How did the insurgents react when one of their group was engaged? Did they scatter for the nearest cover/concealment? Of course then after a while they would sneak out and try to get the body or weapons and then they would end up lying right next to their buds

11) In retrospect, would you change (realistically) the way you or your contingent was armed during that engagement? Would you rather have had more LMG's, precision rifles, etc...? we had a good amount of SAW’s but I was the only guy that grabbed his precision rifle before we jumped in the birds from Baghdad…so yes definitely more medium to long range weapon systems. It would have been great if we had M82A1’s I could have clean a lot more trash up that way even though I wouldn’t have the ammo capacity but with my precision background I could have been more effective with a larger caliber with less ammo…one shot is always better than 4!

12) In a recent SWAT Magazine article, the author (a security contractor with Tactical Response) mentioned intense dissatisfaction with the performance of the FN M249 in Iraq, has your experience with the M249 been similar? Would you rather have been armed with a different LMG (Ultimax 100 LMG, etc...?) Nope he is out of his mind or he didn’t know how to clean his SAW. The SAW is a very good and reliable weapon system. We had no problems with them unless they get dry or really dirty of course. But if we had a 7.62 type (240, even a M60) would have increase range and of course that would have been better but the SAW’s did fine…plus we can carry more ammo on the birds for the SAW’s.

All right, I think that's pretty much it. I apologize for the laundry lost of questions. I also would like to apologize for taking so long to respond, to be honest with you, I was just too timid (didn't want to ask a stupid question like how many kills you had or something). And most importantly, I would like to thank you for answering my incessant questions when you could be doing something a lot more enjoyable. I really appreciate it.

I’m a tactical consultant answering questions is what I do, and don’t ever shy away from asking any questions, one day in the future you may need the answers, and if you don’t have them… well then it maybe to late. My Job as an Operator is not just to be the be the best Operator I can be, it’s to also pass on the knowledge to people that may need it to take my place day. And as far as your inquiry about the amount of kills I may have…well I just couldn’t tell you that…kind of lost count that day to tell you the truth. Killing is one of those things that is intense and exhilarating at first, and then after all the excitement goes away and after you’ve seen people fall through your sights…and seen your buddies fall next to you it turns into a reality…and makes you think different about the world and life. I’m not going to get into my deepest feelings and my theories on life, but I will say that I do not enjoy killing or being in combat even…it is not a glory job, we may be called hero’s from time to time but we were only hero’s for just a few days in our lives…2151 men an women to this day will be hero’s for eternity!